Cooper McHatton, my teenage West Coast Toy & Gaming Correspondent and admitted LEGO freak filed this short, sweet, and spoiler-free look at the LEGO Movie. But before we get to the text he sent me to publish, I want to share the top of his email, the part meant just for me. This paragraph is, in some ways, more enlightening than the review itself because it’s here where Cooper reveals all the best pieces of his personality: passion, love, excitability, tenderness, vulnerability, introspectiveness, and charm.

“I was tearing up during that ending scene, how you could look back and see that everything was from Finn’s perspective. How all Emmet wanted to do was hold hands with [WildStyle], when they are building the submarine the dialog was exactly what we say when building LEGO, the big goodbye was “see you later alligator,” and how the main group was so mismatched like characters were just grabbed from the shelf mid-adventure. Just awesome.”

The LEGO Movie Review
by Cooper McHatton

The LEGO Movie is this generation’s Toy Story. It’s that good. It’s already cliche to say it, but yes, Everything is indeed awesome.

I’ll level with you, OWTK reader: No matter how much hype I’d read, no matter how much my love of LEGO consumes me, no matter how enticing the voice cast and writers sounded, I didn’t have very high expectations for The LEGO Movie. LEGO’s other attempts at cinema have been rather straight forward and uninspired, and doing a full budget film based on a beloved property doesn’t always fix that (e.g. Super Mario Bros.).

I am so incredibly happy to have been proven wrong. The LEGO Movie is a work of art.

The movie is filled to the brim with epic jokes and an awesome adventure that had me entranced right from the get go. The LEGO Movie is a joy to watch, and the heart that ties it all together is just brilliant. There is so much to love and fun in every single frame.

Toward the end of the film your perspective changes and everything suddenly has more meaning. You start thinking back and realizing how expertly crafted every single scene and line of dialog is. I became misty-eyed and whenever I think about it, I continue to be just as affected. It’s as surprising and intense as stepping on a LEGO brick, but without the physical pain.

The animation in The LEGO Movie is INSANE. The visuals are incredible to say the least, EVERYTHING is made of LEGO — from the wear on the minifigs’ printing and joints to how their feet connect with studs when they walk and the waves in the water (mind blowing!), it’s something truly spectacular.

The LEGO Movie also manages to avoid feeling corporate. They never push product on you, at no point does it ever feel like an advertisement, it’s simply a LEGO movie. A beautiful LEGO movie.

Their are plenty of jokes and references for LEGO fans young and old alike, for newbies and hardcore aficionados who have been there since the beginning. Yet, someone who never plays with LEGO will also enjoy it. Wait, do people like that exist in 2014?? As someone who has played with LEGO since before he could talk, I was moved by some of the artistic choices made.

The LEGO Movie is one of the best movies I have ever seen. [Jeff here, and Cooper has seen A LOT of films — old, new, obscure, art-house, big-budget, foreign, and more). The LEGO Movie is beyond hilarious, heartwarming, and toward the end, a genuine tearjerker. It’s score on Rotten Tomatoes proves that I’m not the only one who thinks it’s perfect. Go watch it. Now. You will be impressed.